> The Return of Unicornia
>  by StormLuna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Summons to Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



"So let's go through this one more time."

"We've been over it like a million  times, Twilight! We found all six keys, defeated Tirek, and got this sweet castle! End of story!"

"Yes, but why?"

"I dunno, sugarcube. Maybe it's just your new house and there ain't nothin' more to it than that."

"I must say, speaking strictly on aesthetics, there really doesn't need to be more to it. It's all simply divine!"

"I agree with Twilight. And Rarity. And Applejack. And Rainbow Dash. And Pinkie Pie. Oh, and probably Spike."

"As princess, I've been chosen to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria. So why would the Tree of Harmony want us to sit in a castle in Ponyville? It doesn't make any sense."







After Twilight brought up her being a princess chosen to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria, their cutie marks on the back of their thrones began to glow, fired a bolt of energy at the floor and a circular disk made of rock rose from the floor.  Very soon a map of Equestria appeared on the disk, shocking all of them. 

Spike, who had been sleeping, was woken up by the noise.  He took a look at it and asked, "Is that new?  I like it." 

The six were shocked that such a thing would just appear in their throne room after something happened with their thrones that made absolutely no sense.  The six would be surprised when their cutie marks began to glow and then replicas of them flew off of their flanks and began to circle over Canterlot.  It was unlike anything they had ever seen and they all wondered why this was happening. 

Fluttershy was the first thing to say anything, "If we're in Ponyville, why are our cutie marks over Canterlot?"

Twilight replied, "I don't know but I'm pretty sure the map wants us to find out.  Perhaps something is going on with Princess Celestia that we all need to take care of together." 

Rainbow sighed, "I was hoping we'd get to go somewhere awesome but we should get going."

Twilight agreed, "Come on girls.  The sooner we get to Canterlot the sooner we can find out what this is about."  

Spike noticed that it seemed like he wouldn't be going.  "Can I come too Twilight?  You never know, you might need me." 

Twilight replied, "I don't know Spike.  If you were needed I'm pretty sure the map would have summoned you too somehow." 

Spike sighed in frustration and left the throne room.  Twilight got off her throne and suggested, "Let's get going ladies.  Hopefully this won't be anything big." 

She headed towards the exit and her friends followed suit.  As they were heading towards the train station, they all couldn't help but wonder what this was all about but it was Twilight who had the most concern.  As a princess of Equestria, it was her job to spread the magic of friendship and she began to wonder if maybe a foreign dignitary was there and them and Celestia were arguing and they needed to get them to see eye to eye.

Once they got on the train, Twilight's friends began to discuss ordinary things but Twilight was still deep in thought.  Other things began to cross her mind, what if the map was sending her and her friends to Celestia first before having to go and perhaps fight some villain.  At that point she was in no mood to deal with any villains after everything she had to put up with when it came to Tirek.  She sighed, "Hopefully this won't be something dangerous.  Who knows, maybe the royal stylists are fighting." 

Once they arrived in Canterlot the six rushed right towards the palace to see what was going on.  Once they got to the throne room Princess Celestia addressed them, "Thank you for coming.  Something has happened that I never imagined would happen." 

Twilight replied, "About that, something strange happened in the throne room this morning."  Celestia nodded and Twilight continued, "Our thrones shot some energy into the floor and then this map showed up and then replicas of our cutie marks were floating above Canterlot." 

Celestia gave her a smile, "That is odd but I think I know why, it sent you here because something strange has happened."  She paused before her voice became more filled with concern, "Unicornia has returned." 

Twilight looked at Celestia with concern as this reminded her so much of when she was notified that the Crystal Empire had returned.  Unicornia, like the Crystal Empire, was something that she had never heard of.  "Unicornia?"  Twilight commented. 

Celestia began, "Ok, this is going to take a while.  Fifteen hundred years ago, Unicornia was ruled by a powerful pony, a pony who at one time was very close to me." 

Twilight asked, "Close, how close?"

Celestia continued, "She was a protege of mine, easily the most powerful protege I ever had and we had what one would consider a mother/daughter type relationship.  Her powers rivaled mine and after she studied enough, exceeded them by a lot." 

The six gasped in shock that there could be a pony who had powers that could actually surpass Celestia's.  Rarity asked, "Her powers surpassed yours?"

Celestia again continued, "Yes."  She looked directly at Twilight and added, "Twilight, while you have always been studious, this pony was obsessed with studying, her hunger for knowledge was insatiable.  I always wondered why but ultimately I discovered that she was power hungry and wanted Equestria for herself." 

Rainbow asked, "Ok but what does this have to do with this Unicornia place?" 

The memories of what happened so long ago began to fill Celestia with sadness, "Well, to satisfy her desire for power, I gave her some territory to rule over and it wasn't long until she began to do very unethical and highly illegal things to those who became her subjects." 

Fluttershy asked, "Uhm, if it is ok with you, what did she do?"

Celestia's voice became more sad, "Well the territory I gave her was inhabited solely by unicorns and I will tell you why.  During her youth, she was jumped by an earth pony and pegasus stallion.  That caused her to believe that only unicorns could be trusted.  She was happy over the demographics of her territory but ultimately she grew to believe that only mares could be trusted so she began transforming all the stallions into mares.  She began to view all stallions as inferior, dangerous and undeserving of life."  Celestia then began to cry, "I will admit, I was mad when she was jumped but I never thought she'd spiral into the madness she did." 

Applejack became curious about something, "Your Majesty, Ah agree what happened to her was bad but how does a unicorn have that much power?  How does an ordinary unicorn gain so much power?"

Pinkie added, "Yeah, how could she have so much magic?"

Celestia sighed, "Thing is, she was born an Alicorn and....and her parents" 

Twilight interrupted, "And her parents were Alicorns too?"

"Her mother was.  I can't remember much about the father because he wasn't exactly that involved in her life."  Celestia replied.

Fluttershy asked, "But if they're Alicorns, what happened to them?  Why aren't they around?"

Celestia had a nervous look on her face as she replied, "I'm not sure.  When they went missing I always had a feeling that she may have done something to them but I never brought it up because, because....." 

Twilight commented, "You were afraid she'd do something to you too?"

Celestia sighed, "I was and that did scare me a bit.  To be honest, I think the only one who had powers that were equal to hers was Discord and even he was a bit nervous around her." 

The six knew of Discord's powers and were surprised that anypony would cause him to be nervous.  Something then crossed Twilight's mind, the return of Unicornia.  She asked, "Princess Celestia, you brought up Unicornia returning.  What happened to it?"

Celestia replied, "Well after my sister and I learned about what she had been doing, we headed there with the Elements of Harmony to depower her and reverse her spells but when she saw we had the Elements, she cast a spell that caused Unicornia to disappear and her with it.  Her power was everything to her and she wasn't about to give that up."  Celestia paused before beginning to sob, "I never imagined the protege I loved the most would turn out like that.  I practically raised her yet she turned out nothing like me." 

Twilight could tell that this protege meant a lot to Celestia, that she meant more to her than anypony else.  She embraced her and asked, "About this pony, what is her name?"

Celestia continued to sob, "I can't bring up her name.  Saying it hurts too much, it brings back the memories of our closeness, the love I had for her, then her desire for power, then the things she did to so many ponies and ultimately her disappearance." 

Applejack then asked, "So your Majesty, where is this Unicornia place?  Where are we going and what do we have to do?"

Celestia replied, "It is probably fifty miles to the south of Appaloosa and it is enclosed in a dome like the Crystal Empire is to keep the outside elements out." 

Rainbow asked, "Princess Celestia, if she is this powerful, aren't we going to need the Elements to go kick some serious flank and reverse....." 

Celestia flared up her horn in anger and cried harder, "You will not be kicking serious flank!  You will not harm her!  Just go and....and try to get her to see the error of her ways and get her to reverse those spells."  She then calmed down and added, "And see if maybe she would want to reunite with me." 

At that moment Twilight realized how truly special this pony was to Celestia.  While she had always thought she was Celestia's most beloved protege, she learned that there was one from her ancient past that she seemed to love more than life itself.  She asked, "But how do we do that?  If she is so powerful she makes Discord nervous why would she listen to us?"

Celestia began to think about what would be the best way for them to deal with such a powerful pony and then turned to Fluttershy, "Fluttershy, I know you are close to Discord.  Is there any way you could maybe summon him if you six get into trouble down there?"

Fluttershy replied, "I could, all I have to do is yell 'Discord!'  Why, do you think he would be able to help us?"

Celestia replied, "Actually yes, he is probably the only one who could get through to her." 

This shocked the six as they wondered why Discord might be able to get through to her.  Twilight asked, "But why Discord?  How in Equestria could he get through to her if she has this hatred of males you brought up?"

Celestia replied, "Twilight, he was the one male she trusted and was actually close to.  I remember how distraught she was when Luna and I......"  She then began to sob again, "Why didn't I have her talk to him when he was causing so much chaos?  All of this could have been prevented."  She then turned to Fluttershy, "If you six can't get through to her, you have to get Discord to help."  She then turned back to Twilight, "Now go, the sooner we get this taken care of the better." 

Twilight and her friends then took off towards the train station to head towards Appaloosa.  They knew that the journey from there to Unicornia would be tough but it was something that had to be done.  The six couldn't help but wonder why Celestia was so against them using the Elements against this pony when she was going to use them against her herself in the ancient past.
> Arrival in Unicornia
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the six arrived in Appaloosa, they began to walk south.  The temperatures were well in excess of ninety degrees and this frustrated Rainbow, "Ugh, it is so hot.  I wish we could all fly so we could get there quicker." 

Applejack too was frustrated, not with the heat but Rainbow's complaining, "Well we can't.  It might take us a while but we'll get to Unicornia when we get there." 

Rainbow sighed in frustration as did most of the rest of their friends.  Twilight however remained quiet as she continued to think about their interaction with Celestia.  She knew that this pony was obviously very special to her but she wondered why she would become so angry over Rainbow bringing up using the Elements and kicking some serious flank.  She sighed, "Why, why?  Why is this pony so special to her?  In the past she thought she had to be punished but why not now?  Why does she want us to reunite them?"

Rarity overheard her and suggested, "Twilight darling, she did say they had a mother/daughter type relationship.  Maybe she wants that back, maybe she wants somepony she can feel like a mother to again." 

Twilight's voice became filled with sadness, "Maybe but we always had such a close relationship.  I always thought of her as a second mom and I always thought she viewed me as a daughter." 

Rarity suggested, "She might have but obviously this pony was something truly special and you shouldn't let that get you down." 

Twilight held her head low and replied, "I know.  It just hurts knowing that she held somepony that dear in the past." 

Twilight again went silent after her brief discussion with Rarity and said little as they continued their journey south.  Despite knowing that Rarity was right, she felt a bit of jealousy that Celestia would be so close to somepony that she would think of her as a daughter.  She said nothing about it to her other friends either as she figured that they simply wouldn't understand.  Twilight's silence did however make their journey a bit more tense. 





The following day in the afternoon they saw what appeared to be a dome off in the distance, one that resembled the one that protected the Crystal Empire from the arctic.  Twilight pointed towards it and said, "Well ladies, we're almost there." 

Rainbow replied, "Well I hope it is nice and cool in there, I don't know how much more of this heat I can take."

Once they arrived right at the barrier, they noticed something a bit different about it.  Unlike the barrier that separated the Crystal Empire from the arctic, this barrier seemed thicker.  Twilight reached her hoof out and touched it but would not be thrilled when she would be thrown back by a shock.

"Aaaah!"  Twilight screamed. 

This surprised them because with the dome that protected the Crystal Empire, one could walk straight through it.  This one however, had magical properties to it that prevented outsiders from getting in.  Twilight's friends also reached out and touched it and were thrown back by the same shock.  Rarity sighed, "How are we supposed to get in?" 

Applejack then began to dig and said, "Well if we can't walk through it, we're going to have to tunnel under it." 

Rarity immediately objected, "Dig?  Ugh, that isn't very ladylike." 

Applejack sighed in disgust, "Dang nabbit, you just can't risk getting dirty can you?"  Applejack continued to dig while most everypony else joined her.  While they were digging Twilight suggested, "Rarity, after we dig the tunnel to the other side, you can just follow us." 

Rarity cringed at the thoughts of having to crawl through a tunnel but knew that she didn't have any other choice if she was to join her friends on the other side to confront the queen of Unicornia.  Once her friends had tunneled through to the other side, Rarity began to crawl through it and was not one bit pleased when she emerged on the other side with her coat full of dirt. 

"Ugh, I look awful."  Rarity said in disgust. 

Her friends rolled their eyes in disgust but Rarity's lack of cleanliness would not be their primary focus.  They immediately noticed that they were in a dark forest, one that was rather chilly.  Rainbow wrapped her hooves around herself and commented, "Wow, talk about a change.  It goes from being hot and sunny to chilly and dark." 

Twilight suggested, "Well how about we head away from the barrier and towards what will hopefully be their capitol.  I really want to meet this pony and get her to reverse that spell." 

The six began to walk south, or what they assumed to be south.  As they were walking through the forest they ran across a few squirrels and Fluttershy was the first to notice something strange about them.  She pointed at them and asked, "Ladies, do those squirrels have horns?"

They looked at them and noticed that they did indeed have horns like unicorns.  Fluttershy then decided to try and get their attention, "Uhm squirrels, could you tell me how to get to the capitol of Unicornia?"

The squirrels gave her a disgusted look before flaring up their horns and beginning to discharge energy at all six of them.  They took off running as fast as they could and luckily the squirrels didn't chase after them.  Once they got away from the squirrels, they ran across other animals and noticed that they all had horns and that the herbivores were using magic to remove berries from the bushes. 

This was something that shocked all of them, Fluttershy in particular.  She questioned, "How is it that all these animals have horns and magic?"

Twilight suggested, "Perhaps it is something this pony did.  Maybe she wanted all the animals to have magic in the event outsiders got in.  Maybe she figured they could attack them and drive them out." 

After several hours of walking and a few more encounters with animals who fired magic at them, they finally exited the forest and were out in the open.  The sun was shining brightly but the temperatures were comfortable.  This brought out a great amount of relief to them, Rainbow in particular.  "This is a relief, I thought it would be hot once we got out of the forest." 

Twilight commented, "Well this dome does keep the outside elements out so I figured it wouldn't be hot." 

The six were expecting to see the city's capitol not too far away given how the city in the Crystal Empire was not too far away from the dome but this was not the case.  All they could see were open fields along with animals grazing, animals which flared up their horns upon seeing them.  Like it was with every other animal there, they discharged magic at them and Fluttershy, no matter how hard she tried, could not reason with them.

It was early in the evening when they finally saw what appeared to be a city in the distance.  Once they got closer they saw a tall structure that stood well above the rest of the community.  Rainbow thought she saw something coming from the top of it so she flew forward and took a closer look at it.  She was shocked when she saw a purple gem that was radiating energy skywards, into the dome that was then spreading outwards.  She knew she had to tell her friends about this. 

She flew back to her friends and told them what she found, "Ladies, I know what makes this dome.  There is a purple gem at the top of that tower protecting this place.  It is what is making this dome!" 

Twilight replied, "Well we know what keeps the elements out.  Now to go and speak to the queen and convince her to reverse those spells." 

Fluttershy added, "And if she cast spells on the animals, to reverse those too." 

When they entered the city, they saw plenty of ponies out and about.  Just as Celestia had stated, every single one of them were unicorn mares and many were giving them cold glares.  Finally one of them approached Rarity and asked, "What are you along with these non-unicorns doing in Unicornia?  How did you get inside the dome?  It is supposed to keep outsiders where they belong, out."

Rarity replied, "Well you see darling, we were sent here by Princess Celestia to talk to your queen about those spells she...." 

The mare immediately grasped her in her aura and ordered, "You're coming with me.  Queen Starlight will deal with you and let me say this, she will not be happy over why you are here." 

They then found themselves being carried in an aura that they could not break out of.  Twilight tried flaring up her horn to teleport them out of the unicorn's aura but she could not get her magic to work.  She then realized that who had been identified as Queen Starlight must have cast some sort of spell to prevent the magic of outsiders from working.  

After what was likely ten minutes, they found themselves right in front of the palace and standing by the door were two larger unicorn mares, mares who were obviously at one time in the past stallions given their build.  Their captor released them and they were then grasped in the aura of one of the guards. 

The guard asked, "Red Gala, who are these ponies and why are you bringing them here?"

"Solar Eclipse, I caught them coming from the north and they claimed they were sent here by Princess Celestia." 

The other guard began to violate their personal space and demanded an answer, "You six don't have the Elements of Harmony on you, do you?"

Twilight nervously replied, "No, we don't.  Why do you ask?"

The guard replied, "Security reasons.  Now come, you will answer to the queen for this." 

Very quickly they were led through the entrance and down a long hallway, a hallway that had multiple turns to it.  Soon they were led into a large room with a throne and a guard standing on each side of it.  Surprisingly though there was no trace of the queen or anypony else who might be royalty.  

Finally one of the guards spoke, "Solar Eclipse, Lunar Eclipse, who are these ponies and where are they from." 

Lunar Eclipse replied, "They came from the north and claim they were sent here by Princess Celestia." 

One of the guards ordered, "Release them and return to your post."  Solar Eclipse released them and then the two guards flared up their horns.  The guard said, "Evening Star, make sure they don't leave.  I'm going to go tell Queen Starlight about this.  I am certain she won't be pleased."

The other guard replied, "I'm certain she won't Morning Star, I'm certain she won't be."  She then turned to the six and added, "And for your sake, you better not be here to try and depose Queen Starlight.  She always had a feeling that Celestia would one day send ponies in to try and do something to her." 

Morning Star headed through a door in the back of what was clearly the throne room.  Evening Star continued to glare at Twilight and her friends in silence.  They were all nervous but out of all of them, Twilight was the most nervous.  Just from the way things were sounding, their queen would not be overly happy over Princess Celestia sending them there.  With what Celestia had told them, Twilight knew that Starlight would likely believe they were sent to try and dethrone her or if she weren't told, that she may believe they have the Elements with them.
> Meeting With the Queen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After waiting for five minutes, Morning Star returned with a large lilac coated Alicorn.  She stood taller than Princess Celestia, she had a wavy mane and tail and had a crown with a gem in it that resembled her cutie mark.  When she saw Twilight and her friends with Evening Star, she spread her wings wide and flared up her horn before addressing them, "So, my guard tells me that the six of you were sent here by Princess Celestia, correct?"

The fact that she flared up her horn unnerved them but Twilight would be quick to respond, "Yes, we were.  She said that Unicornia returned and wanted us to convince you to reverse....." 

Starlight immediately cut her off, "You mean she sent you here to try and tell me how I should run things in MY country, correct?"

Twilight shied back a bit, "Well yeah, it is just that...." 

Starlight screamed at her, "It figures, she never did approve of what I did to protect the mares here."  She paused before approaching Twilight and taking a closer look at her.  She continued, "I see you're an Alicorn, I take it you are a princess of some sort?"

Twilight replied, "Yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship." 

Starlight then identified herself in return, "My name is Starlight Glimmer, Queen of Unicornia but you can just call me Starlight.  I'm not a fan of formalities."  She paused before asking, "And who are these ponies with you?"

Twilight replied, "Well the orange earth pony is Applejack, the pink earth pony is Pinkie Pie, the unicorn is Rarity, the yellow pegasus is Fluttershy and the blue pegasus is Rainbow Dash." 

Starlight asked, "Ok but what I would like to know is how you got here.  That dome is supposed to keep outsiders where they belong, out." 

Applejack spoke up, "Well when we touched it we all got shocked so we wound up tunneling under....." 

"Ugh, if I had the gift of foresight I would have cast a spell to keep outsiders from being able to tunnel under it."  She paused before approaching them closer and getting much too close for any of their liking.  When she saw their looks of disapproval she asked, "You six don't have the Elements of Harmony on you, do you?"

Twilight replied, "No we don't.  We wanted to retrieve them from the Tree of Harmony and use them to make you reverse those spells but when Celestia sent us here, she told us that we are not to harm you."  She saw the angry look on Starlight's face begin to lessen prompting her to continue, "When she brought up Unicornia returning, she seemed really sad when she spoke of you." 

Starlight was shocked by her statement, "Seriously?  After how she and Luna wanted to use those cursed things against me so long ago she is now not wanting me to be harmed?"

"She doesn't but I want to know something.  Princess Celestia said something about you two having a mother/daughter relationship and then you studying a lot so you could take Equestria for yourself but why?"

Starlight mumbled, "It is something you would never understand, none of you."  

Fluttershy then spoke up, "Why don't you think we'd understand?" 

Starlight held her head low and began to behave sadly, "I highly doubt any of you have ever had one of the individuals you loved the most take away the other individual you loved most." 

There was something odd about what Starlight said and it piqued Twilight's curiosity, "You said loved, who are you talking about?  Was your relationship with Celestia that strong?  Were you two that close of a mentor and protege?"

Starlight sighed sadly, "She wasn't my mentor, she is my mother."

Twilight and her friends gasped in shock.  Never did they imagine that Princess Celestia had a daughter.  Twilight was the one who was most curious about this, "You're her daughter?"  Starlight nodded and Twilight continued, "She never told us that you were her daughter." 

Starlight became frustrated again, "She probably didn't because she is ashamed of me for what I did, she is probably upset because I was mad over what her and Aunt Luna did to my father, the lone male I actually trusted.  He was the lone male who was actually there for me until....until."  Starlight then began to cry, "Until he started causing problems for everypony, problems that made their lives miserable." 

At that moment things became much more clear for Twilight.  From what Starlight was telling her and given the timeline Celestia gave her regarding how long ago it was Unicornia disappeared, she knew who Starlight's father was.  She asked, "Discord I take it?"

Starlight nodded, "Mhmm...."  She paused before continuing, "And...and mom would never let me talk to him to try to get him to stop it.  I begged her and begged her to let me talk to him about it but she wouldn't let me."  She then let out an ear splitting screech, "But her and Aunt Luna just had to use the Elements of Harmony on him when I probably could have got him to stop causing so much chaos." 

Twilight countered, "But Celestia said that she should have had you talk...." 

Starlight flared up her horn and screamed, "She lied to you!  She always lied to cover her own tracks and after that I hated her, I absolutely hated her!"  

Twilight wasn't sure what to believe when she heard this.  Celestia had always been so honest with her and this did not sound like the Celestia she knew but at the same time the raw emotion Starlight was showing was causing her to wonder what was really going on.  She wasn't the only one who was curious about it.  The whole situation with Discord was what made Fluttershy wonder too. 

"Uhm Starlight, I take it you're talking about Discord being turned to stone?"

Starlight nodded, "It was that.  It wasn't long after that when I was jumped by a couple of colts and the worst my mom did was throw them in the dungeon for a year when my dad would have tossed them into limbo!  I feel like my mom didn't even care." 

Applejack then spoke up, "Ah take it that is when you decided to study so much you could learn enough magic to take Equestria as your own?" 

Starlight had calmed down some by that point, "Yes.  I figured that if I took over, I could free my dad and rule Equestria my way.  I figured that Equestria deserved better than a liar who kept her daughter from spending time with her dad."

Twilight then remembered about Celestia bringing up how she gave Starlight control over territory, "Celestia told us you wanted to rule and Celestia said that is why she gave you territory.  She told us that the territory she gave you was inhabited solely by unicorns since you only trusted them but why did you transform all the stallions into mares?  Those unicorn stallions did nothing to you or to anypony else!" 

Starlight did not take to her comment kindly.  She flared up her horn in anger and yelled, "Still they were stallions and colts and it was colts who jumped me!  I know what it was they wanted and chances are any and all stallions are the same so ridding Unicornia of such threats was the only option!"

While Rarity was not sure of how her friends would react to this she took a chance and stated, "But Starlight, you seem to hold unicorns in a much higher regard.  Do you think that unicorn colts and stallions would do such a thing?"

Starlight sat there deep in thought for a good minute before replying, "Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't.  Unicorns are the race that doesn't engage in such behavior......" 

Applejack yelled, "Hey, my brother is an earth pony and he would never do such things." 

Starlight sighed, "Ok, maybe not all non-unicorn stallions are bad but still." 

Rarity then decided to bring up one downfall of the lack of stallions, "I know you have these concerns but Starlight darling, how are new fillies supposed to be born without stallions?  It isn't like mares and other mares can reproduce." 

Starlight mumbled, "When you have my magical abilities, anything is possible."  She then spoke more clearly, "If they want to have foals, they will come to me so I can cast fertility spells on them." 

Twilight was shocked that a pony could have such abilities but then remembered what she said immediately before that.  She asked, "You bring up your magical abilities and anything being possible, what all can you do?"

Starlight gave them a smirk, "Anything I want.  I could tear open the fabric of reality and toss all of you into limbo if I desired."  She then flared up her horn and proceeded to tear a hole in the fabric of reality.  She saw the six develop looks of horror on their faces before sewing it shut.  She then got a smile on her face before adding, "Or I can do things more harmless, things that are fun!" 

She flared up her horn and created some fish that could swim through the air before creating some flying pigs.  She noticed that their looks of fear had changed to looks of shock.  She then continued, "I got my dad's chaos magic but being a pony, I had to learn it.  I couldn't just do it without studying."  She then became agitated again, "And it was my dad teaching me chaos magic that caused my mom to turn on him and for him to start making life miserable for ponies across Equestria."  

Applejack commented, "Celestia said your dad wasn't a big part of yer life but it seemed like he was." 

Starlight became angry, "She what?  She told you that he wasn't a big part of my life?  Well until she saw to it that he wasn't a big part of my life, he cared about me a lot.  He loved me like any other dad would!"  She paused before screeching, "You know what, he even called me his little princess!" 

The six were in a state of shock but it was Twilight who was the most shocked.  She wasn't sure whether or not Starlight was really speaking the truth because this did not sound like the Celestia or Discord that she knew.  Twilight said, "Look, Princess Celestia has always been honest to me about everything and none of this sounds like something she would do."

Rarity added, "Starlight darling, I'm having trouble believing you about Discord.  He doesn't exactly seem like the fatherly type." 

Starlight flared her horn up in anger and despite being scared, Fluttershy came to her defense.  "Girls, he may not seem like the fatherly type now but we didn't know him back then.  He could have been completely different."  She then turned to Starlight and added, "Starlight I am Discord's closest friend and I do believe you.  He may not be close to many ponies but those that he is, he cares about a lot." 

Rainbow countered, "But Fluttershy, he joined forces with Tirek not that long ago and imprisoned us in a cage so Tirek could absorb all our magic!"

Starlight was stunned when she heard this.  She knew about how evil Tirek was and even met his brother when she was a filly.  She gasped, "Really?  My dad did that?"  She then became frustrated, "Ugh, I really wish I could talk to both my parents and talk to them about everything but my dad is encased in stone......" 

Twilight interrupted, "Starlight, Discord is free.  Celestia had us use the Elements to free him." 

Starlight's ears perked up when she heard this.  She was thrilled that her dad was free but this would also give her a chance to reunite with her parents and question both of them about everything.  While she doubted Twilight's trustworthiness from everything she had said one part of her did believe her.  She asked, "Twilight, I know you are very close to my mom so could you have her come here?"  She then turned to Fluttershy and asked, "And could you get my dad to come here?"

Fluttershy gave her a huge smile, "I can!  All I have to do is summon him!"  She then began to yell Discord fully expecting him to immediately pop in the throne room.

After she did this several times Starlight stopped her.  She said, "Fluttershy, that won't work.  I cast a spell on that dome to not only stop outsiders from walking in but also to prevent them from using magic to get inside." 

The six gasped in shock but Twilight was the most shocked.  She asked, "Really?  Your magic is so strong that you can create a barrier to keep Discord out?  I thought that would be impossible." 

Starlight gave her a slight smile, "Like I said, when you have my level of magic, anything is possible."  She paused before adding, "Can I ask the six of you a favor?"

Twilight had a nervous look on her face but had a very strong feeling as to what it was.  She asked in return, "You want us to bring your parents here, don't you?"

Starlight nodded, "If you could, it would mean the world to me."  She paused before adding, "Tell you what, if you bring them to me I will undo that spell I cast on the stallions."  She again paused before finishing, "And if you could bring my Aunt Luna too, that would be great." 

Twilight and her friends weren't sure if she was telling the truth given what Celestia had told them.  Applejack asked, "Are you being truthful?  Are you sure you won't refuse to return them to being stallions after we bring them here?"

Starlight sighed, "Look, bring them here and let me talk to them alright.  Once I have talked to them and got the answers I want I will cast the spell before you leave, alright?"

Rainbow commented, "Alright but still, how will we get back in?  I doubt Celestia, Luna and Discord will be able to get through that tunnel....." 

Starlight cut her off, "Tell you what, I'll cast a spell that will allow my dad to teleport all of you in here but once you're back here, I'll restore it until you're all ready to leave again."  She then teleported the six to the northern edge of Unicornia and then fired some energy at the barrier.  She added, "There, now return to the Castle of the Two Sisters, summon my dad and have him bring all of you here so we can talk."

Twilight replied, "Starlight, the castle your mom called home is in ruins.  Celestia and Luna live in Canterlot now." 

Canterlot was a place that Starlight had no clue existed given how long ago it was she disappeared but paid no attention to the Canterlot comment.  She sighed, "Whatever.  Now go and bring them here and after our talk, I will restore those I cast the spells on to being stallions."  She paused before adding, "That and cast a massive memory spell on them all so they'll have no memory of this."

The six gasped over the comment and Rainbow was opposed to it, "What?  You're going to make them forget about your 'all mare' spell?  You don't want them knowing what you did so you can apologize to them?"

Starlight tore a hole in the fabric of reality and firmly stated, "No I do not wanting them knowing.  Now unless you want to wind up in limbo, you will not challenge me on what my plans are regarding the spells I cast and how I run my country." 

The six shied back in horror before Rainbow gulped, "Ok, I understand." 

Starlight sewed the hole shut and cast a spell on the dome so magic could be used to get in and out and ordered, "Now go.  The sooner we get this done the sooner I will return those stallions back to their natural form." 

Twilight nodded, grabbed her friends in her aura and teleported them to the other side.  Once they were outside of Unicornia Twilight had a look of shock on her face.  Fluttershy was the first to notice this, "Twilight, do you think she is telling the truth about Celestia and Discord?"

Rarity added, "Twilight darling, do you really think Princess Celestia would hide all of this from you?"

Twilight replied, "I really don't want to believe Starlight but I suppose we will find out when we approach her over this."  She paused and turned to Fluttershy, "Can you summon Discord and then have him teleport us to Canterlot?  It will make all of this much quicker." 

Fluttershy nodded and yelled, "Discord!" 

Immediately a bright flash of light appeared and there was Discord.  Discord looked at where they were and noticed the barrier and  had a shocked look on his face before asking, "Fluttershy, what are you all doing here?"

Fluttershy asked in return, "Discord, could you take us to Canterlot?  We really need to speak to Celestia."

Twilight added, "The pony who rules the land inside that dome wants to speak to her, well both of you to be exact."  She paused before adding, "And I want to know some things too.  I want to know if what Queen Starlight is saying is true about the pasts of both of you."

Discord gasped, "Queen Starlight, you mean as in Starlight Glimmer?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes.  She did some very bad things but she won't undo them unless you and Celestia talk to her about all this."  She paused before adding, "And I have my own questions for both of you, things that Celestia hid from me."  She paused before sadly finishing, "And I never imagined she would hide anything from me." 

Fluttershy added, "And I never thought you'd hide anything from your first friend!" 

Discord remembered how strong Starlight's magic was right before he was encased in stone and figured that something had to have happened for her to become a queen but decided to wait to bring it up until they all met with Celestia.  Like Twilight, he also wondered what she was hiding.  With a snap of his claw, the seven disappeared in a flash of light.
> Secrets Revealed, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a calm day in Canterlot and Celestia was sitting on her throne partaking in some cake that had just been brought to her.  Suddenly a bright flash of light appeared in front of her and suddenly seven individuals were present.  When she saw who it was she first addressed Discord, "Discord, were you able to get her to reverse the spell?" 

Before he could respond Twilight said, "Princess Celestia, he couldn't get in because Queen Starlight cast a spell on that dome to keep outsiders from using magic to get in."  Her eyes narrowed as she continued, "And speaking of Starlight, why did you lie to me?"

Hearing Starlight's name caused Celestia to tear up and begin sobbing.  Twilight knew at that moment that Starlight really was not lying about Celestia being her mother.  She approached the throne and continued, "Why did you tell me she was your protege when she is your daughter?"

Celestia continued to cry for another minute before calming down a bit, "Because, because the memories hurt too much and it took centuries for me to finally block out what happened and then Unicornia returned" she then began to cry harder again, "and you, you brought up her name."

Twilight stood there with a disgusted look on her face.  She couldn't understand how Celestia could simply block out memories of her daughter, a pony who she claimed to love so much.  Celestia looked up and saw the look of disapproval on Twilight's face and continued, "Look, I know it is bad I did that but nopony could understand what I went...."

Twilight cut her off, "You're right, nopony could but while she does seem a bit unpleasant and kind of scary, I feel for her." 

Discord spoke up, "She tore open the fabric of reality didn't she?

Fluttershy cut in, "Discord, Starlight told us about you.  Why didn't you tell me you have a daughter?  I'm your best friend for pony's sake!" 

Celestia then motioned for Discord to stand up by her at the throne before commenting, "I guess both of us were trying to hide parts of our past from those we care about." 

The six gasped in shock but Fluttershy wanted to know more, "But why Discord?  Out of everypony, you should know that I'd understand the most!" 

Twilight added, "And you too Celestia.  You have always claimed what a wonderful protege I am and it always seemed like we had a mother/daughter relationship but here I find out you actually have a daughter."  She paused before adding, "What, did you want to feel like a mother again and I was your outlet for that?"

Celestia sat there in silence not knowing how to answer Twilight's question.  Twilight was correct about why she was so close to her but she feared that telling the truth would anger Twilight but at the same time knew that saying no would be a huge lie, a lie that Twilight would quickly call her out on.  She looked up with tears running down her face and replied, "Yes Twilight.  After over a thousand years I wanted to feel like a mom again and then you came along.  We developed such a close bond and when Unicornia returned, I wanted the pony I love like a daughter to reunite me with my biological daughter." 

Twilight threw her hooves up in the air, "Oh and if I can reunite you two, would I suddenly not mean so much to you anymore?"

Celestia again began to cry, "No Twilight, it isn't like that at all." 

Most of Twilight's friends weren't sure what to think but one thought there was more going on here than Celestia was letting on.  Applejack approached the throne and asked, "Princess Celestia, you already hid this from Twilight.  Is there anything else you're hiding from Twilight, from all of us?"

Celestia's crying became harder, "I-I can't bring it up to be fair to Starlight.  I want to tell her and Twi-Twilight together." 

When Celestia said this, Twilight knew exactly what was going on and realized that what Celestia had been hiding was much bigger than Starlight being her daughter.  Twilight began to cry in agony, "You....you, how could you?"  She paused before letting an ear splitting screech, "She isn't your only daughter is she?  I'm-I'm your....." 

She couldn't finish her sentence before running out of the throne room and into another room.  Discord gave Celestia a slight glare, "She is, isn't she?"

Celestia nodded causing Applejack to add, "Ah think you really need to tell her, to be fair to her, to be fair to all of us."

Everypony could hear Twilight crying in agony in another room.  Everypony including Discord was giving Celestia an angry glare as Rarity spoke up, "Princess Celestia darling, you need to go and reveal everything to her." 

Rainbow added, "Yeah, what you did was cruel, deceitful and selfish.  How could you hide the origins of a pony you claim to love so much from her?"

Pinkie added, "Yeah, that was so mean!" 

Celestia held her head low knowing that everypony there easily figured out the secret she had been hiding.  Never before had she felt so ashamed of herself or so nervous.  She had faced off against enemies such as King Sombra, Tirek and Discord once he began to spread so much chaos but the very thoughts of having to face the pony she had lied to for so long terrified her.  She nervously replied, "I-I don't know if I can." 

Fluttershy spread her wings wide and approached Celestia with a glare, "Princess Celestia, do you hear that crying, that crying that you are responsible for?"  She became more stern and added, "You need to go talk to her, now." 

The tone of Fluttershy's voice shocked her.  It was not quiet and soft, it was louder and filled with anger.  Celestia gave her a nervous look and replied, "Ok, I'll go and talk to her."

Celestia got off her throne and headed towards the source of crying nervously.  While Twilight did not have her level of power, Celestia was still nervous because she was unsure how Twilight would be during this moment.  She had her concerns that Twilight's magic may be like her half-sister's, driven by emotion.  She headed down the hall and found the room where Twilight was.  Celestia tried to open the door but Twilight had cast a lock spell on it.  She knocked on it and asked, "Twilight, can we talk?"

Twilight cried angrily, "No!  I want nothing to do with you right now!  What you did is unforgivable!"  She paused for a moment and yelled, "Just go and leave me alone!"

Celestia replied, "Please Twilight, I need to reveal everything to you." 

Twilight screamed, "Don't bother Celestia, I don't want to have to look at you right now, much less talk to you."

Celestia realized that trying to talk to her at this moment would be impossible.   She then heard Twilight scream loudly and blast a hole in the wall with her magic as she headed back towards the throne room with a sick look on her face.  When they saw her Celestia began to cry again, "She, she doesn't want anything to do with me now, nothing." 

Rarity mumbled, "Well I don't blame her.  What you did is unforgivable."

Rainbow added, "How could you just hide this from her?  You pretty much raised her for pony's sake!" 

Celestia continued to cry, "I had to, I couldn't just disrupt her life like that." 

Applejack commented, "Well you've done worse than that now and you need to fix this." 

Celestia cried, "But how, she probably hates me as much as Starlight did when Luna and I encased Discord in stone." 

The very mentioning of being turned to stone caused Discord to glare at Celestia but he remained silent so that he would not stir the pot any.  As Celestia continued to cry one of Twilight's friends remembered how Starlight brought up Luna and decided to approach her over it.  Applejack asked, "Princess Celestia, does your sister know about this?"

Celestia had calmed down a bit by this point and replied, "No, she doesn't.  I kept that a secret from her as well because...."

Discord cut in, "Because she was banished to the moon?"  He paused before adding, "Who else, any other 'proteges' while Luna and I were imprisoned?"

This again caused Celestia to start crying, "I-I can't.....I have to go talk to Luna." 

Princess Celestia rushed off towards the royal bedrooms knowing full well that she needed to know that she has more than just Starlight as a niece.  She was nervous about this because she knew that when it came to family, that Luna had never been one to believe hiding secrets was ok.  She also knew that her sister and Twilight began to grow closer after that first Nightmare Night and worried about any anger she may express.
> Secrets Revealed, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Princess Celestia headed towards the royal bedrooms, she was nervous.  She was unsure as to how Luna would react to the secret that she was hiding but had a strong feeling that waking her sister during the day would cause any reaction she would have to be rather unpleasant.  When she finally reached Luna's door she said to herself, "Well here goes nothing."

She knocked on the door rather loudly and immediately heard a yell, "Sister, why are you disturbing my slumber?"

Celestia opened the door and headed into find her sister with her horn lit.  It was obvious that like she always was when she was woken up like that, she was in a foul mood.  Luna gave Celestia a glare and asked, "What is it?  Why did you wake me from my slumber?"

Celestia held her head low and replied, "Sister, I have some news that may interest you."  She saw her sister's glare lessen as she continued, "Unicornia has returned." 

Luna's eyes grew wide as she asked, "Really, Starlight is back?"

Celestia replied, "Yes.  When I discovered this, I sent Twilight and her friends down there to try and get her to reverse the spells.  Thing is, Starlight told them that she will only undo the spells if she can meet with the three of us."

Luna asked, "Three of us?"

"Yes, you, Discord and myself." 

Luna asked, "Did she tell Twilight about her origins?  Does Twilight know that Starlight is your daughter?"

Celestia replied, "She does but I have to admit something to you and it involves Twilight."

Luna knew how close her sister and Twilight had always been.  She also knew that Twilight had more power than most ponies and became very curious about why she would bring up something involving Twilight.  She then became suspicious, "Celestia, are you saying?"

Celestia held her head low and replied, "I am." 

Luna used her magic to open her curtains before yelling, "Sister, how could you hide this from her?  How could you hide this from me?"

Celestia sighed, "Because I didn't want to stir the pot any!  I didn't want to disrupt Twilight's life any and it didn't even cross my mind to tell you." 

Luna calmed down a bit before asking, "Does Twilight know about her true origins?"

Celestia replied, "Well she didn't until Applejack figured out I was hiding something and ultimately I did tell her and well...."  Celestia began to cry, "And I think she hates me now!  I think she hates me as much as Starlight did when we turned Discord to stone." 

Luna threw her hooves up in the air in frustration and yelled, "Sister, how could you do this to Twilight and also, why didn't you raise her on your own?  Why did you pawn her off on somepony else?"

Celestia sighed, "Luna, you know how Equestrian culture is now.  We are held to different expectations now than we were back when Starlight was born.  We weren't viewed as goddesses back then, royalty giving birth was viewed as normal, it wasn't by the time Twilight was born." 

Luna had a deep scowl on her face she was so upset with her sister.  She did want to know more though, "So, who is the father and are there any others?  Did you give birth to any others while I was on the moon?"

Celestia held her head low and replied, "Regarding the father, it is the captain of the Manehattan Guard, Steel Shield and there is one other and his cutie mark is very similar." 

Luna gasped, "What, Shining Armor is yours too?"  She glared deeply at Celestia and added, "Well you need to let Shining Armor know and you need to let Starlight know that she has two half-siblings, well if she will even see you after what we did to her father." 

Celestia looked up and replied, "Well Starlight does want to see the three of us but before we go to Unicornia, we will have to go to the Crystal Empire and let Shining Armor know this and...." she paused before becoming more nervous, "I'm sure he will be pretty upset."

Luna replied, "I'm sure he will be but I want to know something about Cadence.  You have often referred to her as your niece but that can not be because we have no siblings.  What are her real origins?"  She briefly paused before continuing, "Don't tell me she is your daughter too."

Celestia replied, "No, she is not my daughter.  Nopony knows who her birth parents were but she was taken in by a couple of earth ponies in a village full of love until an enchantress named Prismia came along.  She was very bitter that nopony loved her while everypony else in the village cared for one another.  Ultimately she used a magical necklace to make everypony miserable." 

"Really sister?  What else happened?"

"Well Cadence ultimately confronted Prismia, the necklace amplified her love and she showed Prismia that she was loved.  After that, she was transported into the same realm where I ascended Twilight.  I ascended her, adopted her as my niece and then deemed her as the Princess of Love." 

Given that all of this happened while Luna was imprisoned in the moon, she was unsure what to think of this.  To her it seemed like a tall tale but she did know of one pony who would know, Princess Cadence.  She replied, "Well I am having a hard time believing you but I shall speak to Cadence myself to see if you are telling the truth or hiding Cadence's origins too." 

Celestia said, "Look, what I'm saying is the truth but still, we need to go to the Crystal Empire and let Shining Armor know that I am his mother so he won't be living this lie anymore." 

Luna then wanted to know another thing, "I would like to know though, why is it that they were raised by Night Light and Twilight Velvet?  Were they friends of yours, did they have a special status at one time or did you just pick two random ponies off the street to adopt them?"

Celestia sighed, "They were really good friends of mine at the time and I figured that they would be the perfect ones to raise them until they were...." 

Luna cut her off, "Ready to come back into your life in one way or another, until Shining Armor attended the academy and Twilight passed her entrance exam?"

Celestia was starting to become frustrated with her younger sister and more firmly stated, "Look, we need to go and get all of this taken care of.  Shining Armor needs to know and then we have to go to Unicornia so Starlight will know as well...." 

Luna cut her off, "And get her to reverse those spells, correct?"

Celestia simply nodded and the two headed towards the throne room.  Luna was not happy at all with everything her sister had hid from not only her but Twilight and Shining Armor.  She was not sure exactly how things would turn out but did know one thing, that the relationships Celestia had with Twilight and Shining Armor would be very strained, perhaps equally as much as her relationship with Starlight was after they turned Discord to stone.
> A Tense Mother/Daughter Discussion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the two returned to the throne room everypony's attention turned to the two.  Discord was the first to speak, "So Luna, did Celestia tell you about Twilight's origins?"

Luna replied, "She did and as it turns out...."  Luna then stopped as she decided that it would be Celestia who would tell them about Shining Armor.  She nudged Celestia and ordered, "Tell them." 

Celestia sighed deeply, "Well everypony, there is something that I have to admit.  Twilight and Starlight aren't my only children." 

Everypony gasped and immediately Applejack knew, "Wait just an apple picking minute, Shining Armor is yours too?"

Celestia was shocked that Applejack so easily figured it out, "Applejack, how did you know?" 

Applejack threw her hooves up in the air and yelled, "Because of his cutie mark!  I figured that when we discovered that Twilight is yours that he likely was too."

Most all of them were in shock but Rarity was more angry than shocked.   "Princess Celestia darling, you knew this yet you allowed him and Cadence to get married even though they're cousins?" 

Rainbow added, "Don't you know how illegal that is?"

Celestia replied, "Actually, they are not cousins.  Princess Cadence was adopted into the royal family."  She saw all of Twilight's friends giving her suspicious looks and added, "Look, it is something that we can discuss later but for now I need to go and get Twilight so we can go to the Crystal Empire." 

Celestia then headed to the room where Twilight was.  While Twilight wasn't crying anymore, Celestia figured that she was likely still in there.  She knocked on the door and asked, "Twilight, can we talk?"

Twilight angrily screamed, "No!  I don't want to deal with you right now!" 

Celestia knew that communicating with her daughter was going to be difficult but then she remembered one thing from their last interaction.  She remembered how Twilight blasted a hole in the wall so she went to the adjacent room and discovered that Twilight had nearly leveled an entire wall.  She went in and stepped through the hole.  She then addressed Twilight, "Twilight, there is something I have to reveal to you but we need to take a trip to the Crystal Empire." 

Twilight looked up at Celestia with a look of hatred in her eyes.  She snapped, "Oh, what are you going to do, tell Shining Armor that him and I aren't actually related."  She then stared towards her flank briefly and realized that this was something else completely.  It then crossed her mind that her brother's cutie mark was very similar to her own.  When she realized this a new wave of anger and hurt spread over her, "What, you mean Shining Armor is yours too?"

This was something that Celestia was really hoping she wouldn't figure out so quickly but knew she had to be truthful.  She sighed sadly, "He is and we're about to head up to the Crystal Empire to break....." 

Twilight let out a loud scream and then became engulfed in flames.  Inside the flames Celestia saw a furious white Alicorn giving her a look of pure hate.  When the flames died out, Celestia saw that her daughter had a singed mane and tail.  She would then receive an angry yell, "Oh and what, tell Shining Armor that he married his cousin?  So you can dissolve their marriage?"

Celestia knew that she had to put Twilight's concerns over Shining Armor and Cadence at ease quickly, "Twilight, Princess Cadence is not actually related to me.  Nopony knows who her birth parents are but she was taken in by a loving family and ultimately had a confrontation with an enchantress named Prismia.  Prismia did some very bad things but Cadence was able to get her to see the error of her ways, she went to the same place you did when I ascended you and after that, I adopted her as my niece and deemed her as the Princess of Love." 

This initially calmed Twilight down as her concerns regarding her brother marrying his cousin was put at ease but very quickly her anger returned.  She screamed, "Ok, Cadence isn't related to us but still, I can't believe you.  I can't believe you let both of us live complete lies!  I can't believe you would adopt us out!"  She paused before screaming, "But Starlight, she got to be raised by you!  Why her but not us?  What made her so special, was it because of her magical powers, because Discord is her father?"

Celestia quickly replied, "Twilight, let me explain." 

Twilight was still very agitated but agreed to hear her out.  Celestia began, "Twilight, you must understand that Equestrian culture was very different back then.  Back then, Luna and I weren't viewed as goddesses like we are now.  Back then nopony thought anything different over royalty having foals than they would their neighbors." 

Twilight angrily asked, "Oh and I want to know this Celestia, who is my father anyway?"

Celestia attempted to respond, "Twilight, you can call me mom now......" 

Twilight sharply cut her off, "No, you should be lucky I'm talking to you at all."  She paused before continuing, "Now tell me, who is my father?"

Celestia replied, "Your father's name is Steel Shield.  He was my personal guard...." 

Twilight again cut her off, "And your secret lover too."  She again let out another scream, "Your lover because you couldn't control your urges?"  She paused briefly before asking, "Who else?  Do I have any other siblings I should know about?"

Celestia knew how angry Twilight was but hoped that what she would tell her next would cause her to calm down some, "No Twilight.  It is just you, Shining Armor and Starlight." 

Twilight glared at Celestia and asked, "But still, you lied to us about our origins.  You pawned us off on somepony else and what I would like to know is what kind of deal you made with those I always called mom and dad to keep this from us.  What sort of deal did you make with them?" 

Celestia replied, "Twilight, we were just good friends and they offered to take you two in to hide the truth." 

This only angered Twilight further, "Oh so not only did you not want to raise my brother and I because of what society would think but Night Light and Twilight Velvet were in on you hiding this too?"  She paused briefly before calming down a bit, "I would like to know another thing about my biological father, where is he?  Did you banish him somewhere after I was born to keep him silent."

Celestia was quickly becoming nervous because she knew that if Twilight was anything like her half-sister, that her anger could amplify her powers.  She replied, "Twilight, after you were conceived I sent him off to Manehattan to be the captain of the guard there....." 

Twilight snapped, "What, he never even got to see me?  You just sent him away because you two conceived, again?"  She briefly paused before screaming, "You know what, I really wish you'd never told me about this!  I would rather have kept on living this lie than having my whole world ripped apart by you fessing up."  She paused before continuing, "I have a strong feeling that my brother is probably going to be just as mad as I am at you for hiding all this and letting us live this lie!" 

Celestia attempted to say something but Twilight continued, "Whatever, now let's go up to the Crystal Empire so my brother can learn the truth about who his real mother is." 

Twilight then unlocked the door and left the room, followed by Celestia.  Celestia was becoming more sick to her stomach because of this.  She knew that she had messed up and began to realize that lying to Applejack would have been better than telling the truth.  She then realized it would come out one way or another had Applejack called her out on it.  All she could hope for was that any kind of relationship she had with her daughter would not be destroyed by this.
> Throne Room Discussions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the two returned to the throne room Twilight immediately rushed to her friends with tears in her eyes.  They knew why she was so distraught and did their best to comfort her.  Rarity embraced her and said, "Twilight darling, I'm sorry about this." 

Twilight cried, "I can't believe it girls, I can't believe she'd do this to me and my brother!  I always thought she was honest with me about everything....." she then pointed her wing towards Celestia and screamed, "but everything is a lie!  My whole life has been one big lie!"  

Celestia's eyes were red from her own crying and the glares that she was receiving from Discord and Luna weren't helping any.  Discord addressed her, "Princess Celestia, I don't get it...." 

Celestia interrupted, "Discord, Equestrian culture is different now.  Ponies in this day and age would be angry over me giving birth and I hate to think what they'd think if they knew what you and I did back in the day.  They'd probably want Luna to take over as a sole ruler and be terrified of Starlight because of her powers and look down upon her because of you being her father." 

Discord sighed in frustration, "Celestia, you should have put Twilight and Shining Armor ahead of what society would think.  This just shows that you aren't exactly the motherly type, just like you weren't when you got so upset over me teaching Starlight chaos magic, magic that she had every right to know and every right to practice." 

Luna added, "Sister, back then I had my concerns over him teaching her chaos magic but now I look back and realize that he was right.  We should have just had her talk to him because I'm sure he would have stopped had you not kept them from talking." 

Discord added, "And I would have had you let her talk to me.  Had I known she wanted me to stop, I would have done it for her."  He then looked towards Twilight and her friends and added, "You know Celestia, I thought you would learn your lesson.  You were not a good mother to Starlight and look what happened to her and look at what is going on with Twilight.  She is angry and she is devastated." 

Celestia sighed in frustration, "I get it, I'm a horrible mother.  I get it, I should have just let you teach Starlight all the chaos magic in the world and I should have just raised Shining Armor and Twilight as my own despite what society would think." 

Luna added, "Yes sister, that would have been for the best." 

Celestia began to think more in-depth and began to wonder how things had turned out had she let Discord teach Starlight all the chaos magic possible and then it hit her, the true reason why Starlight became obsessed with studying.  She studied the advanced chaos magic.  She commented, "Sister, I think I know why Starlight became obsessed with studying.  She figured that since Discord wouldn't be there to teach her all the chaos magic, she'd study it herself."

Discord commented, "And had you just let me spend more time with my daughter and teach her as much as I knew, you two never would have had that falling out." 

Luna added, "And who knows, we may have long ago retired, Starlight would have taken over and you wouldn't have a younger daughter who is so distraught."  She paused momentarily before adding, "And speaking of your younger offspring, shouldn't we get to the Crystal Empire so you can ruin Shining Armor's life too?" 

Celestia sighed in frustration, "Oh yes sister, what a wonderful way to put it."  Celestia then turned to Twilight and asked, "Twilight, should we get going?  I want to discuss all this with Shining Armor and Cadence."

Twilight glared at Celestia and replied, "We may as well so that he won't have to be living this lie any longer than he needs to be."  She became more angry and continued, "You know something Celestia, I don't know about how Luna feels about you but right now I hate you, Starlight has despised you since before Unicornia disappeared and now I'm sure Shining Armor will hate you too."

As they were preparing to leave Discord decided to ask Celestia something he thought was very important, "Celestia, what do you want the rest of us to do?  Do you want us to just wait here or what?"

Celestia turned to Twilight and asked, "Twilight, you said that Starlight cast a spell to keep outsiders from using magic to get in.  Do you think Discord could possibly get in or at least teleport to the dome and find a way in?"

Twilight had a feeling what it was that Discord was thinking.  She sighed in frustration, "Look, before we left Starlight cast a spell on that dome so that magic could be used to get in." 

Discord then turned to Celestia, "Celestia, do you want for me to wait for you here, go back to my realm or would you mind if I went and reunited with my daughter?"

Celestia sighed in frustration, "I honestly think it would be best if you waited until we take care of everything else.  We both have done things wrong and I think it would be best if we discussed them with her together and I have a feeling that she won't be very happy with us." 

Discord asked, "I take it you are talking about......" 

Celestia knew what he was talking about and did not want to cause even more turbulence between her and Twilight so she cut him off, "Yes, that.  Now we must get going." 

Celestia sighed in frustration as they headed towards the exit to head to the train station.  Both Luna and Twilight seemed to be constantly throwing it in her face about how she had lied to so many.  While she was wanting to tell both of them to stop she couldn't bring herself to do so because they were right.  She knew that things were not going to go well because of her lies.

Once the royals were gone Applejack became curious about what Celestia prevented him from saying, "Discord, what were y'all talking about?  What are y'all hiding from us?" 

Applejack was glaring at Discord and he felt as though she was easily picking up on what was going on.  While Celestia had made him swear that he would tell nopony about this, he felt like he had to spill the beans, "Everypony, you know when I decided to help Tirek?"

The five remembered the moment all too well and Fluttershy replied, "I do and I still don't know why you'd do that to your first friend." 

Discord explained the whole situation, "Well Celestia knew that Tirek's medallion was Twilight's key and told me to betray you and do what it took to get it away from him so I could give it to Twilight." 

The five gasped in shock before Rainbow flew up to where she was at eye level with Discord.  She snapped, "What, Celestia was in on that too?  She ordered you to betray us and put our lives at risk just so Twilight would have her key?"

Discord nodded which prompted Applejack to ask, "Didn't you know how dangerous doing that would be?  Didn't you know what Tirek could do once he took so much magic?"

Discord replied, "I did but Celestia told me about how Twilight was unsure about her role as a princess and figured that this would be a test that would help her figure out what her role was." 

This brought back a memory for the five from when Discord brought up Twilight wondering what her role was and one wanted to know the truth.  "Wait a minute," Rainbow snapped, "so it wasn't a matter of you eavesdropping when you brought up her wondering what her role was?  Celestia told you about it?"

Discord nodded, "She did tell me and she told me to lie to keep the truth hidden from all of you." 

Pinkie, who had been abnormally quiet finally spoke up, "She told you to lie?  Maybe Starlight is right about her, she is a lying meanie-mean hooves!" 

Rarity then remembered how Starlight reacted to the news that he had aided Tirek and said, "Discord, Starlight was not happy when she learned of how you imprisoned us so Tirek could absorb our magic.  I can only imagine how she will react when she learns of what he did to her sister thanks to you two." 

Rainbow added, "Yeah and given that she has the power to keep you out of Unicornia, she might just decide to toss you and Celestia both into limbo for allowing that to happen to Twilight."

Applejack continued, "And with what you two have done, I wouldn't blame her one bit.  I don't know her very well but I do have a feeling that she will be angry." 

Rarity finished, "And with the way her magic is, who knows what could happen.  I've seen her powers and I'm with Applejack, you'd have it coming." 

Discord turned towards Fluttershy and was surprised that she was not defending him.  She saw this and commented, "I'm sorry Discord but what you did to us, all of us, is bad.  I don't want Starlight to do anything to you two but I could see her doing it." 

Discord sighed in frustration, "Well all we can do is hope for the best." 

Rainbow agreed, "Agreed but right now we need to just wait and hope things don't go too bad up in the Crystal Empire.  I know Shining Armor will not be happy over this." 

The six then went quiet as they began to think about everything that could happen.  While Twilight's friends were wondering what was going to happen in the Crystal Empire, Discord began to contemplate on how his reunion with his daughter would go and how he would handle any questions she might have for him.  He knew her powers were great in the past but the very fact that she could keep him out of Unicornia did concern him.  He knew that she could very well cast him into limbo if she desired so he knew he would have to tread lightly when meeting with her.
> Secrets Revealed, Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train ride up to the Crystal Empire was tense, very tense.  While Twilight and Luna were discussing everything that had happened involving Celestia, she sat at a decent distance away feeling a great amount of regret and frustration.  She began to realize that this could completely destroy any kind of relationship she had with Twilight.  She also knew that if it was to be discovered that she was in on the whole situation involving Tirek and Starlight found out, that her eldest daughter may do who knows what because she didn't know exactly how she would react to her half-sister being harmed.

When they arrived at the station Luna and Twilight began to disembark.  Luna looked back at Celestia and said, "Come on Celestia, Shining Armor needs to know about this and I want to find out if what you are saying about Cadence is true." 

Celestia sighed in frustration, "Luna, I'm speaking the truth, Cadence isn't mine." 

The three disembarked and headed towards the palace.  The three were greeted cheerfully by everypony they passed and all they could do was give as much of a cheerful response as they could given the situation.  When they reached the palace they were greeted by a guard, "Your Majesties, I take it you are here to see Cadence and Shining Armor." 

Twilight quickly responded, "Yes, we're here to see my family." 

The guard opened the door for the two and they headed in.  As they were headed towards the throne room, Celestia began to get more nervous and ultimately stopped walking.  Luna looked back and said, "Sister, I know you're nervous but you have to do this.  I think Shining Armor would rather hear this from you than from me or Twilight." 

Celestia sighed, "I know Luna, I know."

When the two entered the throne room Shining Armor was happy to see them but Cadence was strangely not present.  Given that she wanted to speak to her, Luna figured she would ask about her whereabouts.  "Shining Armor, where is Cadence?  I want to speak with her." 

Shining responded, "She went out to mingle with some of our subjects.  Why do you ask?"

Luna replied, "I just need to speak with her about some things.  I can talk to her about it later." 

Princess Celestia then decided the time had come to tell Shining Armor the truth.  She began, "Shining Armor, there is something I have to tell you, something important." 

Shining seemed rather curious about this, "Oh and what is that?" 

Celestia became nervous but knew she needed to tell him, "Shining Armor, there is something I have to tell you and it involves your parents."

Shining asked, "Princess Celestia, what happened to them?" 

Twilight knew that this news would likely anger her brother so she approached the throne and stood by him.  She figured that he was likely going to need her by his side upon learning the news.  Celestia continued, "I know this is going to upset you but Night Light and Twilight Velvet are not your parents." 

Shining gasped, "What?"  He paused before the anger began to show, "Tell me, who are my parents?"

Celestia began to hem and haw before Twilight ordered, "Tell him Celestia, he needs to know."

Celestia sighed, "Shining Armor, your true father is not Night Light, it is Steel Shield.  At one time he was my personal guard....." 

Shining immediately cut her off, "What?  You mean to tell me that the captain of the Manehattan guard is my father?"  He then realized that with Steel Shield being her guard that Twilight Velvet was obviously not his mother.  He gasped, "Wait a minute.  Are you telling me that you're my mother?"

Celestia nodded and Twilight continued, "And they are my parents too and to make matters worse, she sent him to Manehattan the moment I was conceived!  He never even got to see me, he never even got to see his daughter."

Shining Armor turned to Celestia with a glare, "Princess Celestia, how could you do this?  How could you do this with your personal guard twice?  Why was it that you two didn't get married? A father should always be there for his foals, always." 

Twilight added, "And you were never there as my mother, you raised me how one would raise their protege, not their daughter."  Twilight then let out a angry yell, "You know what big brother, Celestia had a secret lover that she sent away because she was soooo worried about what society would think of her marrying and having foals." 

Shining glared at her and snapped, "I can't believe you.  You did this to us because you were scared of what society would think?" 

Celestia held her head low and replied, "Shining, Twilight, I couldn't just marry your father and reveal that the two of you are mine.  My sister and I are viewed as goddesses and we can't just do things like that.  Things aren't like they were when your half......."

Celestia immediately stopped because she was unsure as to how Shining Armor would react to knowing that he had a much older half-sibling but Luna was not about to let her get off from telling him the whole story.  "Celestia," Luna ordered, "Tell him, tell him about his much older half-sister." 

Shining Armor's eyes grew wide upon hearing the news, "A much older half-sister?  Who is this?"

Twilight commented, "Prepare yourself big brother, this is going to be unbelievable and regarding who the father is, you'll never believe it." 

Celestia remained silent for a good twenty seconds before Luna nudged her, giving her the signal to reveal who their other sister is.  She sighed, "Shining Armor, your older half-sister is far older than any of you.  She is from the ancient days, she was born during a time before Luna and I were viewed as goddesses, she was born so long ago I was able to raise her on my own."

This angered Shining Armor but it also piqued his interest, "This older sister, where has she been all these years?  Why didn't I ever meet her?"

Celestia began, "Now just let me tell you everything about her before you go yelling at me, alright?"  Shining Armor nodded and Celestia continued, "Well over 1,500 years ago, I was in a relationship with Discord and well, it was a very close relationship and ultimately we conceived.  I wound up giving birth to an Alicorn filly named Starlight Glimmer." 

Shining Armor gasped, "Wait a minute, you and Discord had a child and she just happened to be an Alicorn?"

Celestia continued, "Yes and things were going ok until he began to teach her advanced chaos magic since she had the ability to use it.  Well I didn't think she should know such magic so I ultimately kept them apart and that is when Discord began causing us so many problems with his chaos magic...." 

Twilight cut in, "Yeah and then you turned him to stone when our sister could have talked to him and got him to stop but oh no, you  just had to use the Elements of Harmony on him and then cause Starlight to want sole power and after all that, you and Luna wanted to depower her with the Elements but then she cast that spell." 

Shining Armor could hardly believe his ears but he wanted to know more, "Celestia, what all happened with Starlight?  What is this about her wanting power and then you wanting to depower her and this whole thing about a spell?"

Celestia continued, "Well after we turned Discord to stone she was jumped by an earth pony and pegasus colt.  After that happened, she began to study non-stop so that she could take over Equestria.  To satisfy her desire for power, I gave her control over territory that was inhabited solely by unicorns.  Because of that she gave it the name of Unicornia but then she started turning all the stallions into mares so we had to do something." 

Luna then spoke up, "Well we headed down there with the Elements of Harmony to depower her and then reverse her spells but when she saw we had the Elements, she cast a spell to cause Unicornia and herself to disappear, well until now." 

Shining Armor could hardly believe his ears but one thing that did not sit well with him was their plans to depower Starlight.  He angrily asked, "What, you were going to depower your daughter over that?  Couldn't you have just reversed the spell?"

When he asked this both Celestia and Luna began to think about their prior actions.  It finally hit them that their plans of how they would deal with Starlight were not right and were going too far.  Celestia held her head low and sighed, "I suppose we did overreact, we were both so upset about it...." 

Luna cut her off, "Just like we didn't think when we turned Discord to stone.  Just like we should have allowed Starlight to talk to Discord, we should have talked with her about this."  She paused before adding, "You know sister, we have made many mistakes in dealing with those we are close to but you....." 

Celestia knew what sort of message her sister was going to send but cut her off, "I get it, I did the worst things, right?"

Luna replied, "I hate to say it but yes.  At least I never hid anypony's origins from them nor did I have an intimate relationship with a personal guard that led to the birth of two foals....." 

Twilight added, "Two foals you were too afraid to even admit were your own much less raise them because of what society would think?"

Celestia sighed in frustration, "Must you two keep bringing that......."

Before she could finish her sentence Cadence returned and immediately ran to Twilight and they did their dance and song, 

"Sunshine, sunshine ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" 

The two embraced and then noticed that not only was Twilight there but so was Celestia and Luna.  She asked, "Celestia, Luna, what are you doing here?"

Celestia was again hesitating until Luna nudged her sister, "Celestia, tell her."  She then turned to Cadence and added, "And I have my own questions for you regarding your origins.  I want to know if this whole thing with Prismia is true or not." 

Cadence was curious about why she would even question her past involving Prismia but wanted to know something first, what Celestia was obviously hiding.  She asked, "Celestia, what do you have to tell me?"

Celestia then began to tell Cadence everything about Shining Armor and Twilight being her foals.  She gasped, "What, Steel Shield is their father and YOU are their mother." 

Celestia nodded and Twilight added, "And as it turns out, the two of us have an older half-sister that both her and Luna wanted to use the Elements of Harmony against." 

Cadence was not one bit thrilled over hearing this, "What, you wanted to use the Elements of Harmony on who would wind up being my sister-in-law?"

Celestia held her head low and sighed, "Look, it was because of her using spells to transform stallions into mares.  Shining Armor asked why we didn't just use them to reverse the spells and we just weren't thinking and regarding her spell, she wasn't about to give up her powers." 

Cadence then became curious about how Celestia's oldest daughter could cast such a spell, "How is it that she could cast such a spell?  None of us have that kind of power, not even you!"

Celestia then began to go into detail with Cadence about everything that she had with everypony else.  Cadence could hardly believe what she was hearing but knew that her aunt would not lie to her but she was indeed shocked.  "Seriously, you had an intimate relationship with Discord and this Starlight Glimmer pony is your other daughter?"  Celestia nodded causing Cadence to continue, "I don't get it Celestia.  You obviously did a bad job being a mother to Starlight and she uses powerful magic to cause herself along with her country to disappear.  I would think you would have learned your lesson but you obviously didn't."  She paused before raising her voice, "You know what Celestia, you are a horrible mother, absolutely horrible.  If I ever have any foals I will know exactly what not to do when it comes to raising him or her." 

Celestia screamed loudly, "Would everypony please stop bringing all of this up?  I know I'm a bad mother and all I can say is that I'm sorry." 

Luna then decided that they had discussed Celestia's past enough and approached Cadence.  She asked, "Cadence is what my sister old me about your origins true?  Were you really adopted into the royal family or are you actually Celestia's too?"

Cadence replied, "I was adopted into the royal family by Celestia after....." 

Luna cut her off, "After your confrontation with Prismia?"

Cadence confirmed, "Yes, after that so don't worry Shining Armor didn't marry his sister." 

When Twilight heard this from Cadence she was relieved as she knew that at least Celestia wasn't lying to everypony about her too.  After what had happened Celestia was really hoping that they could relax but those hopes would be dashed when Twilight suggested, "Well big brother, think we should go meet our father now?"

Celestia was taken by surprise over the suggestion, "What?  You want to meet your father?"

Twilight approached her with a hateful glare on her face, "Yes, I do.  I believe that he at least should get to meet his daughter." 

Shining Armor added, "And I would like to reunite with him so that he can see how I've grown since I was a young colt." 

While Celestia was really hoping that they could just go back to Canterlot and have Discord teleport them all to Unicornia and be done with all of this, she realized that her two younger children deserve to get to know their father.  She sighed, "Very well." 

Twilight added, "And then I want answers from those who we always called mom and dad.  I want to know the whole situation behind them being the ones to adopt us."

Cadence then chimed in, "And I'm coming too.  I want to meet Shiny's dad and I do want to meet my sister-in-law as well.  Perhaps I can better understand why she did what she did and maybe get her to reverse that spell." 

Celestia sighed in frustration, "Very well.  Let's get going to Manehattan everypony.  I don't know how Steel Shield will react to me just showing up but hopefully he will be happy to reunite with his son and be happy to meet his daughter." 

Without another word being said, the five headed towards the train station.  None knew exactly what to expect but Celestia was nervous because she knew that certain questions would come up, questions in which the answers she would give wouldn't be all that well received by either Twilight or Shining Armor.